text: Disclosure and Barring Service The DBS was formed in 2012 by merging the functions of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. DBS started operating on 1 December 2012.[1] It operates from Liverpool[2] and Darlington. Its equivalent agencies are Disclosure Scotland in Scotland and Access Northern Ireland in Northern Ireland.